MILFORD — A decision on whether to add lacrosse at the high schools next year has been put on hold, and school administrators expressed some concerns with adding the popular sport.

Acting Superintendent of Schools R. Michael Cummings updated school board members at a meeting earlier this week about the status of lacrosse for the next school year.

In March, about 50 lacrosse enthusiasts lobbied the school board, urging the sport be added, and members of the Milford Youth Lacrosse league vowed to raise funds for all of the costs for the program.

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Darien, led by a record-breaking performance from sophomore attackman Case Matheis, made it six Class M titles in a row. Fairfield Prep was denied in its bid for a fifth straight Class L title, falling for the third time this season to Cheshire. And Weston avenged for a loss to St. Joseph-Trumbull in last year’s Class C title game by winning the teams’ rematch.We have recaps of all of yesterday’s games, but first, let’s take a look at the celebrations by the three class champions after their big wins at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk.

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Before Nick Tsouris sat in the Lanman Center, hoping to hear his name called for the Major League Lacrosse draft, the Yale standout had one more game to play close to his home turf.

Tsouris played along 24 other college all-stars Sunday at the Yale Bowl in the Warrior MLL Challenge. The NCAA team defeated Team USA in the scrimmage 12-11 that was cut short with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter because of lightning in the area that sent fans and players scurrying.

Brendan Mundorf scored a game-high five goals for Team USA, and Ryan Boyle also added a pair of goals for the national team. Jim Connolly from UMass scored three second-quarter goals for the College All-Stars.

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The Shelton boys lacrosse team took on an Alumni team made up of graduates from 2005 to 2008 last Tuesday at Edward C. Finn Stadium in what head coach Steve Kennedy hopes will be an annual event.

The goal was to raise money for the Shelton lacrosse program and the youth lacrosse league.

About 150 fans cheered on the former Gales as they battled this year’s varsity squad.

Experience counts as the Alumni came away with a 13-6 victory.

“Absolutely, this was a huge success,” said Shelton head coach Steve Kennedy.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to plan this event. We had insurance issues to iron out and this was kind of a spur of the moment thing.
Next year we will be a little more organized,” Kennedy said. “But I feel we achieved what we were looking for. And this is to raise
the awareness of lacrosse in Shelton and create even more interest at the youth level.”

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College players have the opportunity to showcase their skills for Major League Lacrosse one final time today in New Haven.

The MLL Warrior Major League Challenge and collegiate draft will take place on Yale’s campus. College All-Stars will face off against Team USA at the Yale Bowl at 2:30 p.m., followed by the draft at 7 p.m. at the Lanman Center.

“The full event is our 2010 collegiate draft, and we have an exhibition game for top invited graduated seniors to play in a game under MLL rules to impress scouts and general managers,” said Carl Uttaro, director of lacrosse operations of the MLL.

“The day serves two purposes,” Uttaro said. “It’s the final event before the draft, as well as an exhibition that is part of the U.S. national team’s preparation for their world tournament this summer.”

Their is no longer an MLL team in Connecticut, and the two closest franchises are on Long Island and in Boston, but Uttaro believes that New Haven was a great location for seniors to end their college careers, as well as start their professional ones.

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At least two conclusions can be drawn from glancing at the 2010 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship bracket.

The ACC is loaded, and Fairfield County is well-represented.

More than a dozen players who call southwestern Connecticut home will be in action — or at least on the rosters of teams still remaining — during this weekend’s quarterfinal round of the D-I tournament.

One Elite Eight game of particular interest for local lacrosse fans is the showdown between in-state rivals Duke (13-4) and North Carolina (13-2), who will face off today at 2:30 p.m. at New Jersey’s Princeton Stadium.

Other contests include No. 1 Virginia against No. 8 Stony Brook (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.), No. 3 Maryland vs. Notre Dame (today, noon) and No. 7 Cornell, a finalist in 2009, taking on surprising Army (Sunday, noon), which stunned two-time defending champion Syracuse in double overtime in the first round. All four games will be televised on ESPNU.

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Nine years ago, the number of kids age 15 and under playing organized lacrosse nationwide was 125,000, according to US Lacrosse, the 12-year-old governing body of the sport.

Since then, there has been a decided growth spurt.

Check that. The sport has exploded at the youth level. Last year, there were 297,271 kids who played organized lacrosse. That’s nearly a 138 percent increase over 2001.

Growth of the sport at the youth level in Connecticut mirrors the growth nationwide. A mere 7,488 Connecticut kids played lacrosse in 2002. Last year, that number was 18,054, a roughly 140 percent increase. Fairfield County has a long history with lacrosse, but now the sport is penetrating other areas of the state.

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MILFORD — After meeting with top school administrators last week, the president of a youth lacrosse league said he believes there is still a chance the sport may be added at the high schools next year.

Acting Superintendent of Schools R. Michael Cummings and Milford Youth Lacrosse President Sean G. McGinley met Thursday about adding lacrosse to both city high schools next spring.

Before the meeting, Board of Education Chairman Mark Stapleton, R-1, said he’d love to add the program, but the chances “(do not) look good.” The school board is facing a $2.2 million budget reduction next year after the Board of Finance reduced its spending request last month.

But McGinley said he remains optimistic, after meeting with Cummings, that the program may be added. McGinley and organizers associated with MYL have vowed to pay all costs associated with the program, totaling between $25,000 and $30,000.

Cummings declined to comment on the meeting, but McGinley said it went well.

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EAST HARTFORD

— All it took was 54 seconds for Connecticut players to put their stamp on the first ESPNU Warrior Classic college lacrosse doubleheader.

Fairfield midfielder and Norwalk native Brent Adams opened the scoring and was followed by three more state players who found the back of the net for Fairfield and Denver.

Canton native and Avon Old Farms graduate Alex Demopoulos helped No.20 Denver erase a pair of two-goal deficits in a 9-8 victory over No.18 Fairfield Saturday before an announced crowd of 6,415 at Rentschler Field.

The teams had a combined 14 Connecticut players on their rosters.

In the second game, No.16 UMass defeated No.10 Georgetown 13-12 on Christian Hain’s goal with 33.5 seconds left.

Freshman Will Manny had his fifth hat trick for UMass (8-4). Georgetown fell to 7-5.

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